 "87 deals worth $3 bn in April: Deal Street warms up")
Deal activity appears to be warming up just a bit, with 87 deals bringing in a shade under $3 billion in April 2013. Experts reckon that cross-border deals, in particular inbound ones, will now begin to get a big boost after the Jet-Etihad tie-up, the Unilever announcement and the Diageo deal which is in its final leg.
April saw $2.92 billion by way of 87 M&A and private equity deals, up from $2.58 billion in the same month in 2012 from 97 deals, according to the latest edition of Dealtracker, a regular bulletin put out by Grant Thornton India LLP.
[caption id=“attachment_770825” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Etihad-Jet deal led aviation to be the top sector in M&A, accounting for 23 percent of the total value[/caption]
According to Dealtracker, the top five M&A deals in April were Etihad’s 24 percent investment in Jet Airways for $379 million, Bharti Airtel’s investment in Warid Telecom Uganda ($280 million), SKI Carbon Black’s purchase of the carbon black business of Aditya Birla Nuvo ($264 million), Hassad Foods’ 51 percent stake in Bush Foods Overseas and the Piramal Enterprises-Navayuga Road Projects deal, both at $100 million each.
On the private equity side, the big one was KKR’s 90 percent acquisition of Alliance Tire Group for $650 million, followed by Government of Singapore Investment Corporation’s 3 percent buy of Kotak Mahindra Bank for $239 million. These two were followed by International Finance Corporation’s $60 million deal in Ratnakar Bank, CX Partners-Barbeque Nation Hospitality ($20 million) and Indiareit Fund Advisors -Omkar Realtors at Bhoiwada for $18 million.
Not surprisingly, the Etihad-Jet deal led aviation to be the top sector in M&A, accounting for 23 percent of the total value, followed by telecom at 17 percent and plastic and chemicals at 16 percent. In terms of PE activity, manufacturing significantly tops the list, accounting for an overwhelming 53 percent, followed by banking and financial services (27 percent) and IT and ITeS at a much lower 7 percent for the month.
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
